Kenicia Francis
Nurses Week is a week-long celebration dedicated to honouring and appreciating nurses for their invaluable contributions to healthcare.
Yesterday saw the closing ceremony for the country’s celebration of the event.
Nurses Week usually takes place from May 6 to May 12 each year, ending on Florence Nightingale’s birthday.
She was born on May 12, 1820, and is considered the founder of modern nursing as her dedication and contributions revolutionised the nursing profession.
However, the director of nursing at the Sir Lester Bird Medical Center, Jacqueline Jno-Baptiste, explained that, “Nurses Week for Antigua this year was celebrated from the 11th to the 18th of May under the theme, Our Nurses, Our Future, The Economic Power of Care.”
During this time, various events, activities, and competitions were held to recognise the hard work, dedication, and impact that nurses have on the lives of patients and their communities.
Nurses Week started back in 1954 when the International Council of Nurses (ICN) designated May 12th as International Nurses Day.
Over time, this celebration expanded to become a week-long event to honour and appreciate nurses globally for their incredible work and contributions.
Jno-Baptitse told Observer, “We are caregivers, we are the backbone of any healthcare system. No healthcare system can function without the nurses. As such, nurses are to be valued and appreciated at all times.”
“It has its good in terms of how we take care of our patients. But the bad part is how people perceive nursing. And because of their own expectations, their own value of who a nurse is and what nurses should be doing, sometimes it is not perceived correctly,” she continued.
The activities last week began with a church service hosted by Bible Speaks, a Golden Grove church, and that was followed by a day of celebrating retired nurses.
“We had an awesome time there at Bible Speaks. On the 12th was a rest day at the hospital, but for the Antigua Barbuda Nurse Association (ABNA), it was a day of celebrating our retired nurses. The Association took them care packages and tea packages,” she said.
She also shared, “[At] the beginning of Nurses Week, we had ‘wear your uniform with pride. We were fully clad in our white uniforms, our caps, the nursing assistants in their uniforms. It was a really awesome thing to see your old-school uniforms, with your old-school caps, or your modern-day uniforms.”
The week’s activities also included various bouts of trivia games and giveaways, a poetry competition and a department decoration contest.
Each ward in the hospital had to incorporate this year’s Nurses Week theme and its colors, olive with a touch of burnt orange in some area of the department.
“It was the first time we put this together, because we know our nurses are very talented. People see them in white, but there’s much to the white. They are talented.” Jno-Baptiste said.
There was also an educational seminar.
“We had a lot of our nurses who attended education sessions, because we believe in investing in our nurses. They’re the future of tomorrow. So we spent time educating and grooming them. We want to know that when we step off the scene, we leave a legacy behind of nurses who care, who are compassionate, who want to make sure that they meet the expectations and exceed the expectations of the patients in their care.” she explained.
ABNA held a talent night which was attended by SLBMC’s nurses and the public as well.
“We supported ABNA in its talent night, the nurses came out. We involved the public in everything. What we realised that for nursing to be readily acceptable, we have to be perceived as a profession that cares. We incorporated the public in everything that we did, so they came out and saw that we’re not just at the bedside, but we socialise and we mingle. By doing that, we become approachable. People get to understand, ‘Hey, nurses are humans. They have feelings’.” she said.
ABNA also had a banquet in collaboration with the SLBMC nurses, where they rewarded nurses who had given over 20 years of service in the field.
Another competition that was held was the ‘My Favorite Nurse’ initiative.
“This gave the public the opportunity to vote for the nurse that they felt stood out, that administered care, that embodied what the nursing profession is all about,” she explained.
Jno-Baptiste told Observer, “We even had a spa day. Our nurses were pampered and treated. I even went in and had one. I came in feeling refreshed, renewed.”
“You know, so we took time out to do all of this for our nurses because our nurses are loved. Our nurses are appreciated. I just want to thank my nurses for the outstanding job that they do every day.”
Sister Goldine Francis, unit manager for the out-patient clinic at SLMBC won the poetry competition and received a cash prize of $500.
The OR Department won the decorating competition, and nurse Rosemond Willock, departmental manager of the operating theater, won the ‘My favorite Nurse’ competition.
She won $500, a new cell phone from Digicel, a Bluetooth speaker from ACT, and a purse from LAND Antigua, valued at over $800.
She also received a 60-minute de-stressor massage for two from Curtain Bluff Hotel, a dinner for two at Sandals Hotel, a day pass for two at Royalton Antigua, and an aerial tour of the island for two with Calvin Ayre Helicopters.
Jno-Baptiste hopes that with the implementation of scholarships for people who want to study nursing, that more will take opportunity to enter the field.
“Recently, I was in a forum with the Minister of Health advocating for a scholarship that has now been set in place for persons who want to pursue nursing as a career. And I highly commend the Minister of Health, Wellness and Environment for this initiative. I do hope that persons will take up the scholarships and that they will go out and that they will pursue nursing as a profession because there’s a shortage worldwide. The government is doing everything in their power to ensure that when you come to Sir Lester Bird Medical Center, or if you go to the community, that somebody will be there to give you the care that you so duly require.
